


Her?

by Orange17



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, My First Fanfic, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 14:29:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13250172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orange17/pseuds/Orange17
Summary: Flipped first meeting of Wayhaught where Waverly seeks out Nicole





	Her?

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure that this my first fan-fic. Lay all the feedback on me! I have some ideas for another one-shot and a longer AU (and potentially a few scenes from that written) so I value all the input, suggestions, and guidance that's out there.

Waverly rushed behind the bar, grabbing clean glasses and swiftly pulling tap handles.  To a casual observer, it may look like chaos as she hands beers across the top to waiting customers with one hand and begins pouring a combination of liquors into a shaker with the other.  To Waverly, it’s just an unusually busy weeknight at Shorty’s.

Without looking up, she knew the door opened again by a brief chill across her arms and exposed midriff. Her ears strained while dropping off the cocktail at a table, attempting to gauge if customers were finally leaving or more were coming in. 

Leaving the table, her eyes quickly scan her section of the bar. No new faces are spotted, so she made rounds to other customers before departing to the bar to fill another drink order.

While holding a glass below a running tap, there’s a brief moment where the noise in the bar dropped and Waverly overheard Gus say, “Welcome to Purgatory, officer.”

Waverly unconsciously turned to the opposite end of the bar to take in the newcomer. Sheriff Nedley stood at the side, hovering between the employee and customer edges of the bar. Gus had her arm extended in front of the sheriff, elbow down blocked by the crowded bar, but presumably shaking the hand of the newest member of Purgatory’s finest.

Her eyes go back to the tap just in time to straighten the mug and push back the tap handle. Retreating from the bar back through the masses, Waverly weaved her way back through the crowd to drop off the drink and craned her neck to try and take in the new officer. Even standing on her toes was no help with her height disadvantage; a stumbling customer bumped into her, nearly knocking the glass out of her hand, and her curiosity was forgotten. 

\--

“Who was the new officer that came in last night?”

It’s a much-needed slow afternoon at Shorty’s after the relentless crowds, drawn in from Springfield County for their game against the Devils, the previous night. Waverly already restocked the liquor supply and has been slowly cleaning up other messes that had been left for today.

For the past ten minutes, her attention has been occupied by a stubborn sticky spot on the bar where she swears someone spilled half a bottle of liquor, judging by the size of the sticky, dried puddle. However, she paused to ask Gus the question, glancing towards the older woman.

Gus didn’t bother to look up from the glass she’s drying as she replied, “Officer Haught?”

Waverly’s focus returned to the puddle, “I guess…I didn’t see him, but I overheard you welcoming him—”

“Her,” Gus corrected.

“Her?” Waverly questioned, puzzled.

“Yes, her. Her name is Nicole. The sheriff brought her along for happy hour so she could meet some locals.”

“Oh,” was all Waverly could think to say at first, but paused. “Did you say her last name is ‘Hot’?”

\--

A few days later, Waverly turned the lock on the front doors to Shorty’s to open for the day when a sight out the window caused her to do a double take. Two people were hunched over, backs to the saloon, at the side of a car parked along the street.

She quickly identified one as Karen Holland, a high schooler who just got her driver’s license, but her eyes narrowed as she took in the back of an unfamiliar red braid with a Stetson perched on top. Waverly’s eyes roamed to the khaki pants and back of a navy collared shirt

This must be Officer Haught, she thought.

Waverly watched as the high schooler slowly removed a flat tire from her car. Based on the pointing, miming, and handing over of tools, she inferred that the new officer must be teaching Karen.  

Nicole suddenly stood up, picked up the flat with ease and swapped it for the spare in the trunk. As she rolled the spare back to Karen and helped mount it, Waverly’s heart swelled at the sight.

\--

Glass and rag in hand, Waverly worked through another slow afternoon shift at Shorty’s drying clean glassware. Her eyes glanced up from the task at hand to take in the few customers scattered across the bar, scanning to see if any drinks were running low.

As she checked on the table near the window, her eyes were drawn to a police cruiser passing by and her thoughts immediately went back to Purgatory’s newest officer.

Waverly had seen her around town, seemingly everywhere, these past two weeks. A few days after helping Karen change her tire, she spotted Officer Haught on duty once again, this time scaling a tree in Mrs. Smith’s front yard, attempting to coax her precious black cat down to safety.

Then, she saw her again in the park. While Waverly jogged, Nicole played pick-up basketball with a couple of middle school boys. It looked like something out of a viral YouTube video when Nicole, in full-uniform no-less, smoothly dribbled the ball through her legs, faked left and moved right, causing the boy guarding her to fall on his face. The officer drove to the hoop and sunk an easy lay-up to the cheers of the rest of the guys.

And just yesterday, who else but the new officer was a few people in front of her in the check-out line at the grocery store, still agonizingly too far away for an introduction. Waverly looked on enviously as Nicole laughed easily while in conversation with Pam, the cashier.

Each time, Waverly felt her heart swell at seeing this woman fitting into the community, but, each time, walking away without saying hello caused an unpleasant and unidentifiable twist in her stomach. She chalked it up to guilt; after all, she was the nicest person in Purgatory so who was better equipped to be a one-woman welcoming committee? And it was, ahem, _guilt_ that caused her to snap at Pam yesterday, right?

“Hey Gus,” Waverly started slowly, looking over at the edge of the bar where Gus stood with papers spread out in front of her, pen in hand, and glasses while she worked through a supply order for Shorty, “has Officer Haught been back?”

Gus moved her glasses to the top of her head and rubbed tiredly at her eyes, “She’s been back a few times, mostly for cappuccino, but she had dinner here last night after her shift.”

“I still haven’t met her…what’s she like?”

“I find it hard to believe that the ‘nicest person in Purgatory’ hasn’t welcomed the newest addition to town yet,” Gus deadpanned, as she moved closer to where Waverly stood and traded her pencil for a rag and glass.

Waverly shrugged, that twisting feeling making a resurgence. Guilt? It had to be guilt.

The older woman chewed the inside of her lip as she took in Waverly’s body language and pondered her response.

“Polite. Friendly. A good tipper,” Gus said with a wink. “I reckon a little lonely too, though she didn’t say it.”

Waverly’s hands finally stilled.

Gus pulled her from her thoughts, “It’s not easy being new in town and I’m sure she could use a friend. Why don’t you take her a cup of coffee? I can handle things here for a bit.”

“Oh. Sure, that’s a good idea. I’ll be back in a few,” Waverly replied quickly, dropping her rag and reaching for a to-go cup.

\--

“I’m sorry Ms. Hooper. Though I must imagine Mr. Gaines having three sets of bunk beds on his front porch is an eyesore, it’s not illegal.  If you see those kids sleeping out there in the cold though, you give me a call.”

With a loud huff, Ms. Hooper turned on her heel to exit. Waverly flattened herself against a wall in the narrow entrance of the municipal building to avoid a collision, careful not to spill a drop of coffee.

The redhead behind the front desk made eye contact with Waverly as she greeted her kindly, though with a slight frown, “I apologize for Ms. Hooper’s nearly runnin’ you over.  I’m afraid she was hoping for a different answer from me.”   

“No need to apologize. She doesn’t like much me much either,” Waverly replied with a slight shrug. “Actually, I don’t know that she likes anyone.”

The officer laughed, and Waverly couldn’t help but notice how beautiful it sounded.  She had a fleeting thought to say something else amusing, in the hope of getting to hear it again, but Nicole spoke up and extended her hand. 

“Um, that probably wasn’t the most professional first impression. I’m Officer—”

“Haught.” Waverly filled in, shaking the officer’s hand. “Nicole Haught, right?”

“Yes,” Nicole replied slowly, tilting her head to the side with eyebrows raised as she pulled her hand back. “Have we met?"

“No. We haven’t,” Waverly said quickly, starting to ramble. “I work at Shorty’s and wanted to introduce myself the first time you were there, but it was crazy and I couldn’t make my way over. Gus told me that you’re new in town. And I’ve, kind of, been voted the ‘nicest person in Purgatory’ so I had to say hi because I’ve seen you everywhere, but you’ve been working or I have been doing other things. Oh! And I brought you coffee. Gus said you like the cappuccino.”  

As she rambled, she couldn’t help but notice the small smile that grew on the officer’s face.

“Nicest person in Purgatory?” Nicole asked with a smirk.

“Yes, I have a sash and everything.”

“Well ‘nicest person in Purgatory’, do you have a name? Or should I just call _you_ Purgatory’s finest?”

Waverly could feel her cheeks start to burn pink. Her mouth opened but no words came out as she took in Nicole’s dazzling ear to ear grin and dimples. Dimples. It occurred to Waverly that she never noticed them on anyone else before. Unfortunately, her mind was making up for it now and struggled to absorb anything else.

“Dim—I mean, Waverly,” she finally answered, shaking her head. She startled slightly, realizing she was still holding the coffee cup and handed it over. “My name is Waverly Earp.”

If Nicole caught that she almost said “dimples,” she didn’t say it, but her grin grew.

“Thank you, Miss Earp,” Nicole said taking a sip. “I owe you one.”

“You do,” Waverly replied unconsciously.

It took a breath for what she said to register in her mind. Her hand covered her mouth in horror and the blush in her cheeks grew.

“I mean—"

Nicole waved her off as she interrupted, “No, I do. How about tomorrow?”

Waverly’s cheeks were fully red she started to ramble, “Oh, I can’t. I have plans.”

Her mind stalled as Nicole’s face fell the slightest bit. She didn’t have plans. Why did she say that?

She paused, forced a small smile, and injected some confidence into her voice in an attempt to pull it together, “Yep, I’m a planner.”

Nicole bit the inside of her lip. Undeterred, she pulled a business card from her pocket and a pen from a cup on the desk.

Waverly continued to ramble while Nicole wrote, “And I’m in a relationship. With a boy. I mean a man.”

“A boy-man?” Nicole questioned, pen paused in her hand and an eyebrow raised. “Yep, I’ve been _there_. It’s the worst.”

The officer’s eyes dropped back down to the business card and she scrawled out one last note.

“Here is my schedule for the next two weeks,” Nicole stated, smiling again. She held out the business card and stood up. “ _Plan_ on getting coffee with me. My number is on the front, just let me know.”

Waverly was flustered again by the officer’s assertiveness, but managed to squeak out, “Yes.”

A passing thought to pull it together went through Waverly’s mind.

“It was nice meeting you, Miss Earp. Thank you again for the coffee.”

“It was nice meeting you too, officer.”


End file.
